Last week's theme of "Unusual names for things" ended with a word composed of two body parts, "armseye". That leads naturally into a theme of "Unusual names for body things". These may not be words you can make use of, but I hope and trust they'll be words you can enjoy.

mandible – the lower jawbone, in humans, etc.[from Latin mandere to chew. The upper jawbone, which is immobile, is called the maxilla (from Latin diminutive mala "jaw, cheekbone).]

In the concentration camp, oral surgeon Zoltan Frankl stitched together a shattered jaw using electrical wire he found dangling from the wall of his barracks. A fellow prisoner's mandible had been shattered when a Nazi shot him in the face.– Jewish news weekly of Northern California, Oct. 13, 1995 (ellipses omitted)

New jaw fossils might suggest a direct line of descent between two species of early humans, including the one to which "Lucy" belongs. [photo caption:] A complete lower jaw (mandible) of Australopithecus from a locality called Nefuraytu …– Early-Man 'Missing Link' Possibly Found, FOXNEWS.COM, July 19, 2007

For humans the mandible is the lower jaw only. But a bird's mandible means either half of the beak, lower or upper. In ants, beetles, etc., the mandibles are the two crushers that look like horns or pincers, in front of the mouth. These can be incredible organs, snapping shut at up to 145 mph – the fastest self-propelled speed in the animal kingdom, by far. Even more remarkably they accelerate up to that speed almost instantaneously. See this article for fantastic photos and video-links.

From Latin cera wax. To help remember this word, think of the word "sincere". It's been claimed that "sincere" comes from Latin sine cera "without wax", on the notion that a "sincere" promise was one that did not need to be made under seal, and could be trusted "without [sealing] wax". As it happens, that etymology for "sincere" is completely false. Nonetheless it may help you remember that "wax" is cera in Latin, so that when you think of "earwax" you'll be led towered the sound of "cerumen".

The age-old advice to routinely clean out earwax is discouraged under the first published guidelines. “Unfortunately, many people feel the need to manually remove earwax, called cerumen, which serves an important protective function for the ear,” said the guidelines’ lead author. “Cotton swabs and some other home remedies can push cerumen further into the canal.”– Science Daily, Aug. 31, 2008 (ellipses omitted)

From an article titled Play Tricks on Your Body: Use Simple Movements to Get Rid of Aches and Pains:

Pushing the tongue to the top of the mouth while pushing on the spot between the eyebrows with the pointer finger will help clear a stuffy nose. Pushing on both places at the same time moves the vomer bone, which runs through the nasal passages, back and forth like a seesaw. The motion loosens the congestion and after about 20 seconds, the sinuses begin to drain.– ABC News, Nov. 7, 2005

vomer – the small thin bone separating the left and right nasal cavities[from Latin for "ploughshare", because of the shape]

More generally, septum (plural septa) – a partition separating two chambers of the body, such as that between the nostrils or the chambers of the heart

Yesterday's quote spoke about "pushing on the spot between the eyebrows with the pointer finger". You of course wonder if that spot has a name. Far be it from me to leave your wonderings unsatisfied.

glabella – the smooth area between the eyebrows just above the nose[from Latin meaning "little smooth thing"]

In today's quote, Mencken is describing the class envy of alcohol consumption. The rural "yokel" drinks alone in his barn "in solitary swinishness", consuming rotgut whiskey, "crude and unpalatable stimulants, incompetently made". As drinks he resents "the hated city man", who partakes of "varieties that have a more delicate and romantic smack, and are ingested in gay society to the music of harps".

So he gets down his unappetizing dram, feels along his glabella for the beginning headache, and resumes his melancholy heaving of manure … .– H. L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy

Originally posted by Kalleh:So how is the septum different from the vomer? I've only heard it called the former.

I think the partition including soft tissue is the septum; one of the bones composing it is the vomer (which really does look like a plowshare). I think the upper part of the palatine bones also form part of the septum, if memory serves.

We noted that a septum is tissue that serves as a partition separating two chambers of the body. What is a tissue that connects tissues, to hold one in place?

frenulum; frenum – a membrane that supports or restricts the movement of a body part; a frenulum is simply a small frenum.Examples: 1) the one connecting the underside of the tongue to the floor of the mouth; 2) the one connecting the upper lip to the gum, at a spot above and between the upper incisors[Latin frenum bridle, from frendere to grind]

I'm giving an innocent usage-example and a moderately sexual one (ellipses omitted). But the vast majority of non-technical usage-examples are much more hardcore. They concern a frenulum of the male anatomy (or the equivalent female part) which I'll delicately leave unspecified, referring you to Glossary of the Penis. (Who knew that all those parts have names too?!)

Joseph embraced her again, meeting her lips with a series of brief plucking kisses, at the end of which he stroked the hollow beneath her lower lip with his tongue. His tongue moved along the secret valley just inside her upper lip, tickling the sensitive frenulum, then sliding along her gums.– LaVyrle Spencer, Spring Fancy

James gazed upon [the butterfly] with mounting excitement. Then, fetching his enlarging glass, he examined it minutely. What was this? Impossible! Something never heard of before in the annals of lepidoptery! This butterfly appeared to own that attribute which hitherto he had supposed to belong solely to the moth … a frenulum! Yes; there, at the base of the hindwing, were those unmistakable bristles which in flight would be gripped beneath the forewing by a membranous hook; a hook and eye, in fact, devised by nature. The flight of both butterflies and moths depended upon hindwing and forewing closing together to act as one. In butterflies–all butterflies save this one, it would seem–this was achieved by a generous overlapping. Moths, on the other hand, were equipped with the frenulum to provide the same result. The existence of a frenulum, therefore, had always–until now–provided part of the definition of a moth.. . .Until now … For–James almost trembled as he realized this–it was not solely a new species; it was a butterfly which might provide a connecting link between every butterfly and every moth.– Barbara Ker Wilson, The Lost Years of Jane Austen

canthus – either of the corners of the eye, where the upper and lower eyelids meet [Greek kanthos corner of the eye; akin to cant – slanted; tilting]

I could sit here …, while darkness mutters behind the window, and wait for a tear to show itself in the creased canthus of your eye. You would weep then, my love.– Andrew Sean Greer, The Confessions of Max Tivoli

auricle – the lower part of the outer ear; the earlobepinna – the upper part of the outer ear, stiff with cartilage; the "earshell" (plural pinnae)*

Not exactly everyday terms. But OED has a delicious quote as the earliest use of the "earlobe" word. The author seems to be speaking of fashions, not of anthropology.

A certaine Nation, whose Auricles are so great, that they hang down to their shoulders … Where men had not onely hanging Eares, but broad and large Auricles.– John Bulwer, Anthropometamorphosis: Man Transform'd, or The Articificiall Changling [etc.] (1653)

*Note: dictionary-definitions are inconsistent. Some (most?) say one or both terms mean the entire outer ear (upper and lower parts); some add that they used to mean the separate parts; some mention upper and lower but don't say "above or below what".